The Case of Tori Vega
by ForeverDarling
Summary: My name is Barry Heller, Los Angeles police officer. I've investigated a lot of brutal murders in my lifetime, but none as horrible as the murder of Victoria Vega.
1. Chapter 1: The Vega Parents

"Just take a seat right here." I said, escorting Mr. and Mrs. Vega inside my office, a small, poorly lighted room in the Beverly Hills Police Station.

"I know this may be hard for you. What happened to your daughter was tragic. But if you're completely honest with us and tell us everything you know, we'll try our very hardest to find Tori's killer."

I'd seen many brutal murders in all my years of being an officer, but the murder of Victoria Vega was by far one of the worst. The strangest part of this case was that she seemed so unlikely. She came from a wealthy family, and her house had a security system better than the one of the White House.

"We'll try our hardest." Said Mr. Vega, voice cracking. He was trying to be strong for his sobbing wife, but he was also breaking.

"Okay, first of all, is there anyone who would want to hurt-" I started, but was cut off by the sharp ringing of the phone. "Excuse me." I told the Vega's, picking up the heavy phone.

"Officer Heller." I answered gruffly.

"Heller. I have news on Tori Vega's case." Answered a quiet yet intimidating voice. It was Lindsay, our top investigator.

She immediately started babbling quickly , which was rare for Lindsay. "Lindsay. Slow down." I commanded. She repeated what she was saying.

"Alright, thank you." I said, slamming the phone onto the cradle. I stared over at the young victim's parents, a rush of shame coming over me.

"What is it?" choked Mrs. Vega, sobbing into a tissue.

"I am very displeased to tell you this." I started. I was unsure I could continue, imagining their reaction to what I was about to tell them. I cringed, then continued. "Our investigators have concluded that Tori's murderer was someone who was in the house that night."

"But that means-" Mrs. Vega started.

"Whoever murdered Tori was at her party. Her killer was one of her closest friends." Mr. Vega said, emotionless. Mrs. Vega wailed into her husband's chest. "We should go." He said, his eyes glazed over. And with that, the Vega's left my office.

****First fanfiction! Don****'****t hate (: Yeah, I know that this chapter didn****'****t explain much, but more will be revealed in the chapters to come! Review please.? (: **

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	2. Chapter 2: Andre Harris

About 20 minutes after the Vega's exit, I received a phone call.

"Barry Heller." I answered.

"Hi, officer. It's David Vega, Tori's dad." He took a deep breath. "I apologize for my wife's behavior. It's just so much to take in. First we find her body in such brutal shape, and then we find out one of her best friend's killed her.. It's just…" he trailed off.

"I understand, Mr. Vega. Do you have anything you want to tell me? Who was there at the party that night?" I pushed.

"Her friends that usually hang out here." He answered. "Cat Valentine, Andre Harris, Beck Oliver, Jade West, and Robbie Shapiro."

"Who do you think would be most likely to kill her?" I asked anxiously. I needed to get to the bottom of this case. This strange, peculiar case.

"I honestly have no idea." He broke into sobs. "I'm sorry, officer. I have to go."

"But wait David-"I started quickly, but was cut off by the phone's beeping.

"Andre Harris?" I asked as a teenager with short dreadlocks entered my office. He was wearing a leather jacket and new Nike's. _Rich kid._ I thought to myself.

"That's me." He mumbled. He was nervous, I could tell. He was picking at his finger nails and staring down at the yellowing linoleum floor.

"Where were you the night of February 18th?" I asked sharply, studying him. His body language showed that he was frightened, but I couldn't exactly read what he was thinking.

"I was at Tori's party." He answered confidently. He looked up at me, and I took note of the tears glinting in his eyes.

"Describe the night to me. Explain everything and be as detailed as you can. Start when you guys decided to get together." I commanded coldly. _Hey,_ I thought, _the boy goes to a performing arts school. For all I know he could be acting. _

"The six of us got together a lot. Me, Cat, Tori, Beck, and Robbie. We were all pretty close. I had just broken up with my girlfriend, Lindsay, and Tori could tell I was down. She said we should have a party to help me get over her. You know, like with little party hats and everything. She was so cute." He said, seeming dazed.

"Tori?" I asked, puzzled. "Did you have feelings for her?"

"I was in love with her." He muttered. A tear fell from his face. "I was so in love with her. But I could tell she liked Beck. Thank God that Beck's a faithful guy, or else he'd have been in Tori's pants by the second day she'd been to Hollywood Arts."

"Who is Beck dating?" I asked curiously.

"Jade West." He replied with anger. It was obvious he had something against Jade, I had to find out what.

"Do you like Jade?"

"She's ok. She'd never really been the nice one, but deep down I know she has a kind heart."

"Do you think she's capable of killing Tori?"

"No. I think you're crazy to accuse any of us. We all loved Tori, even though some of us didn't admit it!" he roared. He stood up and smashed my nameplate off of my desk.

"Andre, Andre." I called, putting my hand on my holster, threatening my gun. "Calm down!" Tears streamed down his face like a waterfall.

"I loved her so much. And now she's gone." He breathed. I handed him a glass of water and let him cry silently for nearly an hour before he could speak again.

"I can't do this." He wept.

"Andre," I said, staring into his eyes. "If you really loved Tori, you would tell us everything you know so we can try to arrest who did this to her. Please. For Tori."

"Okay." He whimpered. "For Tori."

"So describe the night of the party." I asked him, grabbing my notepad.

"We all showed up one by one and did the usual stuff. We danced and did karaoke, and watched Girlie Cow reruns. Then Tori said she was feeling sick. She went upstairs and said she was going to sleep. She told us she would be fine and to keep watching Girlie Cow." He revealed, trembling.

"Who went upstairs after that?" I asked anxiously.

He paused for a while, until he finally whispered, "As crazy as it sounds, we all did."

"You all did?" I asked doubtingly. "What did you go up there for?"

"I ate one of Robbie's disgusting burritos. I rinsed my mouth with some mouthwash."

"And the others?"

"Cat wanted to find a glittery pen from Trina's room. Trina sent Robbie to get her a new shirt because she spilled ketchup on hers. Trina went up to get a new shirt because the one Robbie picked out was the wrong shade of pink." He added an eye roll. "Beck and Jade wanted privacy so they could make out."

They were all reasonable excuses. But the crazy thing is, one of them was lying. And it was going to be very difficult to find out which one.

"Was anyone up there for an unreasonable amount of time? Or had a strange behavior when they came downstairs?" I tried.

"With all due respect, sir, we go to a performing arts school. All of us can act and control our behaviors."

"Tori was found dead in her room. The autopsy showed she was poisoned, then strangled. Did you hear any screams from upstairs?"

"No, sir. Maybe she was already dead from the poison." He tried, glancing at his shoes.

I studied his face, looking for signs of nervousness. Did he know that out of common sense, or was it because he was her murderer? I couldn't rule anything out.

"That's what the autopsy said." I said hoarsely, and he flinched. "Can you describe all of your friends to me?"

"Uh, well there's Cat. Cat's crazy."

"Crazy?" I asked, flipping over my notepad. He continued staring at the ground intensely, almost like he was having a staring contest with the dust-covered floor.

"Well, we all think she's bipolar." He noticed I started writing in my notepad, then quickly added, "But Cat would never dream of doing this to Tori. Even if she is bipolar, she has a heart of gold. She's the sweetest girl you'll ever meet, and her and Tori adored each other."

"Calm down, kid." I assured. "We aren't blaming her. But any piece of information can help, alright?"

"Okay.." he mumbled. I nodded at him to continue. "Well she's really torn up about Tori's murder.."

"Does she seem guilty?"

"Well, yeah. But not like she did it. She's blaming it on herself, saying that if she wouldn't have showed up, then Robbie wouldn't have showed up, because he's obsessed with her. And then maybe someone wouldn't have killed Tori because there would have been less suspects, and it would be easier to find out who did it.."

"Does Cat always seem.. vulnerable?"

"Yeah. She get offended by the smallest things. There's no way she could do this."

"But then again, you kids do go to an acting school." I pointed out. He shuffled his feet and then coughed.

"Listen, sir. No disrespect or anything, but this would have shattered Cat. I've known her before she even knew who Tori Vega was, and even though she has amazing talent, she wouldn't have been able to hold this in. It would shatter her."

"Okay. Your other friends?" He glanced over at his watch.

"Listen, officer. I have to make this quick," I nodded for him to continue.

"Well there's Robbie. He's a freak. Somehow he all got mixed in with us, and he's an okay addition. He carries a puppet around everywhere, which is kind of creepy, but we get used to it. He liked Tori a lot. He never had the gut to ask her out though, and so I highly doubt he would have the guts to kill her."

I scribbled furiously .

"Then there's Jade. Jade's evil.. She's like-" His phone beeped. "I have to go. Later, cops." He said sauntering out.

"Wait, Harris! What about Jade?" I called . But it was too late. I know that kid was hiding something. I could feel it. But what was he hiding?

*****Okay, this is crazy, I'm soo soo soo sorry that I didn't write more sooner. But I've had school, and then I didn't get reviews forever, so I thought that no one would care if I didn't update. But here you guys are, reviewing.! Seriously, I'm super happy about that. I love you guys 3*******


	3. Chapter 3: Jade West

"You Officer Heller?"

I glanced up to see who that gravelly voice belonged to. A teenage girl in clunky Dr. Martens stood in front of me.

"You're Jade West, I assume?"

"Yeah, that's me." She sat down in the creaky chair. "I'm not an idiot, you know." I was caught off guard by her piercing eyes staring into mine. She seemed threatening, almost.

"I never said you were."

"Listen, I know what you're thinking. You think that I killed Vega. You think that I was jealous of her talent. That I just couldn't handle being second all the time, and that I finally snapped and killed her."

"Second?" I raised my eyebrow. This girl was tough. I needed to get as much information out of her as I could.

"I didn't kill her." She snapped.

"What do you mean by second?"

"I was friends with her, you know. Despite the fact that I never admitted it, she was one of my best friends."

"What do you mean by second?" I screamed.

"She was always the perfect one. Pretty and talented. I was the lead in every play before she came along. Everyone thought I was jealous. But you wanna know a secret, Heller? I was thrilled when she came along. I was the best, and I hated it. My mom pushed me to the limit with singing and acting until the point that I hated it. Once there was someone better, I didn't have so much stress. Sure, I got hit, but it's better than being stressed all the time."

"Your mom hit you?" I asked, making note that child abuse victims are 30% more likely to commit a violent crime.

"It's fine now." She said gruffly.

"So you say you didn't kill Tori?" I asked staring at her intently. This girl was impossible to read. She wasn't crying and seemed cold, but she claimed her and Tori were friends.

"No, I didn't." she stared right back. What was she thinking?

"Did you cry when you found out?"

She was silent for a moment. _Bingo,_ I thought. "No." she held her head low, her voice cracking.

"Jade. Look at me." I commanded. She slowly turned her head up to reveal tears welling up in her eyes.  
>"It was my fault." She whispers.<p>

"How?" I asked, quickly turning more pages in my notebook, pen in hand. She froze.

"Jade. How was it your fault?" I said slowly. She breathed heavily.

"I-" she started, choking up.

"You what, Jade? What did you do? "

"I told her." She cried.

"Told who? Tori? Told her what?" I asked anxiously.

My phone blared.

"Barry Heller." I called.

"Heller. We have some news on the Vega case." Answered a gruff, masculine voice.

"Who is this?" I ask.

"Marvin Amsher. I'm subbing for Officer Shalton." _Officer Shalton?_ I thought warily. _But I just saw him._

"What happened to him?" I asked, not convinced.

"I don't know, sir. But what I do know is we have news on Tori's case. Meet me by the Beverly Hills sign in ten minutes."

"What could you have possibly found about her case by the Beverly Hills sign?"

"Meet me in ten minutes." He said sharply, then hung up.

"Jade, can you stay here for twenty minutes?" She looked like a corpse, pale and fragile. She nodded her head slightly. "Don't move. I'll be back soon."

I couldn't shake how scared she'd seemed. What did she tell Tori? As evil as she seemed, and how bitter she was towards me, I have to admit it was peculiar how she just shut down when I asked if she cried. I suddenly regretted leaving before asking her what had happened. _Whatever this is, it better help us solve this crime, _I thought.

Just as I was about to turn into Rodeo Drive, I stopped.

"Can you repeat that?" I called into my police radio.

"This is Shalton. I need backup on Sunset." The radio buzzed back at me.

_I knew he wasn't gone! _ Whoever called me was a fake, and I had a horrible feeling about why they called. I speeded back to the station as fast as I could.

I burst into my office as fast as I could, but it was too late. My worst fear was a reality. Jade West had been killed in my very own office.

******Short chapter, I know. But I figured the positive amount of action makes up for the lack of words. (: Anyways, I'm uber happy people actually like this. My language arts teacher gives me B's because she thinks my stories 'lack a certain spark.' Hahah, whatever, I'm only thirteen & I kind of wanna go to college for writing. (: Okay, so I'm seriously in love with all my reviewers. Review, please? I love you guys soosoo much. Greater than threeee (They won't let me make a heart.. :/) ******

**Ooh, & who do you think did it? Leave your answer in your reviews !**


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